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A model of a malaria-infected red blood cell may lead to better ways to treat malaria, according to a team of engineers and molecular biologists who investigated how this parasite infection causes the red blood cells to stiffen.

The combination of NPR best book author, former MMA (mixed martial arts) fighter and creative writing instructor certainly is rare. Cameron Conaway, who fits all these categories and more, will speak at 6 p.m. Wednesday, April 15, during Penn State Brandywine’s 2015 Spring Speaker Series, where he will bridge the gap between science and art.

Chinese rulers spent hundreds of years and sacrificed countless lives building a meandering 5,500-mile earth, stone, and brick wall along the country’s northern border, designed to keep invaders from attacking the empire. Meanwhile, tiny germs and bugs were one brick in a wall that restrained China’s own ambitions to conquer and incorporate parts of what is now called Vietnam and the empire’s other southern neighbors.

Native bacteria living inside mosquitoes prevent the insects from passing Wolbachia bacteria -- which can make the mosquitoes resistant to the malaria parasite -- to their offspring, according to a team of researchers.

Malaria parasites alter the chemical odor signal of their hosts to attract mosquitos and better spread their offspring, according to researchers, who believe this scent change could be used as a diagnostic tool.

Identifying areas of malarial infection risk depends more on daily temperature variation than on the average monthly temperatures, according to a team of researchers, who believe that their results may also apply to environmentally temperature-dependent organisms other than the malaria parasite.

Studying parasites is something that Anne M. Vardo-Zalik loves. Vardo-Zalik, an assistant professor of biology at Penn State York, spent the summer in California collecting samples relevant to the study of the western fence lizard and conducting research on how the malaria parasite impacts the species. She prefers to work with natural parasite-host systems and for the past 10 years has monitored the lizards and tried to determine how parasites and their hosts (the lizards) survive over time.

For a portion of the summer, Vardo-Zalik was assisted by Victoria Motz, a senior at Penn State York studying life science. Motz worked side-by-side with Vardo-Zalik.

Malaria parasites in vaccinated laboratory mice evolve and become more virulent, according to research at Penn State University. The mice were injected with a critical component of several candidate human malaria vaccines that now are being evaluated in clinical trials. "Our research shows immunization with this particular type of malaria vaccine can create ecological conditions that favor the evolution of parasites that cause more severe disease in unvaccinated mice," said Andrew Read, Alumni Professor of Biological Sciences at Penn State.

"We are a long way from being able to assess the likelihood of this process occurring in humans, but our research suggests the need for vigilance. It is possible that more-virulent strains of malaria might evolve if a malaria vaccine goes into widespread use," Read said. The research, which is published in the 31 July 2012 issue of the scientific journal PLoS Biology, showed that more-virulent malaria parasites evolved in response to vaccination, but the exact mechanism is still a mystery. It was not due to changes in the part of the parasite targeted by the vaccine. Images and more information are online athttp://www.science.psu.edu/news-and-events/2012-news/Read7-2012.

Penn State College of Medicine announced Wednesday (July 13) that it will receive additional funding through Grand Challenges Explorations, an initiative created by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that enables researchers worldwide to test unorthodox ideas that address persistent health and development challenges. Jose A. Stoute, associate professor of medicine and microbiology and immunology, will continue to pursue an innovative global health research project titled "Use of Microwave Frequency as Treatment for Malaria."

In the war between drugs and drug-resistant diseases, is the current strategy for medicating patients giving many drug-resistant diseases a big competitive advantage? A research paper that will be published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences argues for new research efforts to discover effective ways for managing the evolution and slowing the spread of drug-resistant disease organisms. The research is led by Andrew Read, professor of biology and entomology and director of the Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics at Penn State University.

The ultimate goal is to develop a new science-based model for drug-resistance management that will inform treatment guidelines for a wide variety of diseases that affect people, including malaria and other diseases caused by parasites, MRSA and other diseases caused by bacterial infections, AIDS and other diseases caused by viruses, and cancer.

A researcher in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences will lead a seven-year, $14.5-million project to fight malaria in Southeast Asia. Liwang Cui, professor of entomology, is the principal investigator for the Southeast Asia Malaria Research Center, one of 10 International Centers of Excellence for Malaria Research announced July 8 by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health.

Discovery of a key red cell molecule used by the malaria parasite gives renewed hope for an effective vaccine in the future, according to an international team of researchers. Plasmodium falciparum, a blood parasite that causes malaria by invading and multiplying in the red blood cells, kills 1 to 2 million people annually.